Here’s another one come in and made me cry.
copied from spine race page
Justine Carruthers has finished the Montane Winter Spine Challenger North, arriving at the finish line to applause, cheers, whistles and some very damp eyes among our volunteer team. She was the last woman to cross the line.
Justine cut a slightly strange figure as she walked across the green in Kirk Yetholm. It’s a familiar sight to those of us who’ve stood at this line before and we call it the ‘ultra lean’. The extreme muscle fatigue and the weight of the pack they carry renders the runners unable to stand or walk upright. It’s a temporary thing and we’re at ease in the knowledge that Justine will be upright again after a good rest, but without understanding that, it’s a difficult sight to see.
We mention it here only to highlight what the runners toward the back of the race are willing to put themselves through in order to reach the wall. The lean will only improve with rest, and will only decline without it. It speaks to how close to the edge these runners are out there on the course. Not only skirting the cut-off times but skirting the edge of what a person can endure, and choosing to push on anyway.
On reaching the wall, Assistant Race Director Kevin McCann asked her when she knew she was going to make it and she gestured back towards the finish line saying one word.
There.
She covered 160 miles in bleak conditions, and she did so bearing the weight of knowing she was so close to the cut-offs a single slip, an admin misstep, an extra hour of sleep, could end her race. That takes immense strength.
She had to have a reason to do this. Something inside that enabled her to dig to a depth that to the uninitiated seems intolerable, almost irresponsible. But she did so in the knowledge that a team of like minded people were here to catch her if she fell in the attempt, in the knowledge that she will bounce back from the fatigue and discomfort, and that she will forever know there is almost nothing on earth than can break her if she chooses to keep marching on.
This was a redemption story for Justine, having retired before the finish line in the same race last year. It’s a privilege to have watched her reach her goal today.